The IAIA Board of Trustees has named IAIA Faculty Emeritus Stephen Wall (White Earth Nation) as interim president, effective upon Dr. Robert Martin’s (Cherokee Nation) retirement July 31, 2025. Wall will assume presidential duties until the Board of Trustees completes the search for his replacement. Wall was conferred the title of IAIA Faculty Emeritus in 2019, after teaching for 14 years in the Indigenous Liberal Studies Department. He was also named IAIA Faculty of the Year in both 2009 and 2017. Wall has served as a Tribal Justice Specialist, Chief Judge for the Mescalero Apache Tribal Court, Behavioral Health Coordinator for the Tohono O’odham Nation Health Department, Community Alcoholism Prevention Team Member for the Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board, Research Analyst for the American Indian Law Center at UNM, and Cultural Studies and Political Science Instructor at Fort Lewis College, as well as offering other numerous Tribal law consultations, presentations on culture and history, and publications in those areas. Wall has a Juris Doctorate from the University of New Mexico and a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Fort Lewis College. In a recent article published in the Tribal College Journal, Wall wrote, “We live in a society in which the arts and humanities are more essential than ever and are needed to mediate the inhumanity of uncontrolled technological development…The arts and humanities can reconnect people to our shared humanity. For Indigenous communities, the shock of dehumanization has been a part of our history. Tribal colleges and universities provide the mechanism for exploring this history and reconnecting with Indigenous ways of life and values needed to strengthen our humanity.” Stephen Wall’s appointment as interim president starts on August 1, 2025. https://iaia.edu/stephen-wall-named-interim-president-of-the-institute-of-american-indian-arts/ Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts. (fb)

On Sunday, June 22, 2025, The Santa Fe New Mexican published a powerful “My View” opinion piece by IAIA President Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee Nation). Dr. Martin writes, “In 1962, when the Institute of American Indian Arts opened its doors, it embodied a promise that the United States would honor its treaties by supporting Indigenous education and self-determination through the arts. Today, that promise is in jeopardy. President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposes to erase IAIA’s entire $13.482 million federal appropriation, wiping away 63 years of progress with the stroke of a pen.” He concludes with a call to action. “Defunding IAIA will not balance the ledger or advance unity. It will silence voices this country desperately needs to hear, voices that sing in Cherokee, paint in Diné, and write in English about what it means to belong to the First Peoples of this land. Keep the promise. Keep IAIA funded.” Thank you to The Santa Fe New Mexican and Inez Russell Gomez, host of Conversations Different, for their continued support and for helping elevate Indigenous perspectives in critical conversations. Read the piece at https://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/congress-must-protect-indigenous-arts-education/article_15ca45ef-116f-449c-adaf-276ff8930be1.html Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz, Institute of American Indian Arts. (fb)